A multi-function peripheral apparatus employs common hardware resources with a plurality of functions, thereby reducing cost and space as a whole.
JP No. 2002-84383-A discloses a platform that consists of a versatile operating system (OS) such as a UNIX, etc. and a middleware configured by integrating common functions to each application for copying, printing, scanning, and faxing so as to reduce the number of program steps of each application and to improve development efficiency of application software.
However, since the above configuration has applications for respective job kinds, and each application has its own job creating module, the job step relevancy among the job kinds is low, and the unity of the whole configuration is lacking. Therefore, the whole configuration is still complicated and the development efficiency of applications is not enough.
Further, because of the low relevancy, processing for displaying the job state to a user is complicated.
Although the above Japanese Patent Application Publication has not disclosed a parallel processing, since the plurality of applications are operated on the versatile OS such as UNIX, a general parallel processing will be performed by multi-task function of OS.
For example, when receiving facsimile image data from a modem during receiving print image data described in a PDL (Page Description Language) from a host computer, the respective inputs and respective outputs of the image data are put in a queue to process sequentially, which causes no problem. However, after the data is input, a rasterizing of print data and an extending of compressed facsimile image data are processed in parallel in time division based on the multi-task function of OS, and therefore throughput is reduced by the overhead due to switching the processing. Furthermore, the start of printing of a print job by a print engine will delay when print and facsimile jobs are running in parallel, and both jobs are liable to compete with each other, which causes the processor to wait for outputting with occurring idle time, thereby reducing throughput.
Even if dividing one job into a plurality of job steps, putting inputs in a queue in page unit at each job step, and sequentially processing them, image data among the job steps are processed in parallel so that similar problems as described above will occur.
On the other hand, JP No. H10-032691-A discloses a multi-function peripheral apparatus provided with the function of assigning priority in outputting as follows. There are provided with print queues for respective image data inputting means in order to store information regarding print job consisting of image data with a plurality of pages and print controlling data. On the basis of a print queue priority predefined by a user, a job controlling means selects one of these print queues to take out a piece of print job information from the selected print queue and provide it to an image forming means.
In addition, JP No. 2003-044249-A discloses a multi-function peripheral apparatus provided with the function of assigning priority in outputting as follows. In a multi-function peripheral apparatus provided with a plurality of image inputting devices of copying, printing, and faxing, which shares one printing device, there is provided a printing priority managing means for determining which request should be taken out in order when requests for printing out are simultaneously generated from the plurality of image inputting devices, and a host computer is allowed to give instructions thereto.
A user can change a printing priority for each type of multi-function peripheral apparatuses having the above described outputting function with priority.
However, in any of these multi-function peripheral apparatuses, paying attention to one output device in a case where a plurality of image inputting means are coupled to one print engine, since it is constituted to select inputted image data at output stage with taking the priority of image inputting means into consideration, it has no option but to change the priority only in units of a function such as copying, printing, or faxing, etc. For example, if the priority of copying is assigned higher, the priority of all the copy jobs is assigned higher when the plurality of copy jobs are put in a queue so that their execution order cannot be changed in units of a job.
Therefore, for example, in a case where the jobs of a print (1), fifty sheets of copies (2), three sheets of copies (3), a facsimile reception (4) are accepted in this order in a queue, and the output of facsimile reception would like to be executed after executing the output of copy (3) by changing the priority, it is required to assign the priority of copy function higher than that of facsimile reception function so as to output in order of copy (2), copy (3) and facsimile reception (4), thereby delaying the output of copy (3).
Further, even if it is constituted to enable the priority to be changed among a plurality of jobs with a same function, since the priority of respective functions and the priority of respective jobs in each function must be set, besides the operation, the configuration of software is complicated.